Apparatus for constructing concrete floors.



N. F. AMBURSEN. APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTING CONCREIEFLOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. l3, l9ll.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET R.

N. I". AMBURSEN.

APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE FLOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 13. 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I Int/e71 NILS FREDERICK AMBURSEN, OF NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNI-FORM COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A. CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

Application filed December 13,1917. Serial No. 206,938.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, N1Ls FREDERICK AM- BURSEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newton Highlands, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Constructing Concrete Floors, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention which is an improvement on the apparatus for constructing concrete floors shown in my United States Letters Patent No. 1,216,644 dated February 22, 1917, has for its general object the improvement and simplification of the clamps or spreaders used for securing the arch plates or floor forms to their channels or supports.

In said apparatus the clamps are grooved to receive the reinforcing rods and the latter are secured to the clamps by means not integral therewith, such, for example, as wires which are twisted around the rods and clamps. Heretofore in apparatus of this general type it has been customary to use chairs resting on the bottoms of the beam boxes for supporting the reinforcing rods, and sometimes hangers are used for suspending said rods in said boxes.

By means of the present invention, however, I provide means integral with the clamp for spacing or centering the reinforcing rods and securing them to the clamp, thereby accomplishing by means of a single piece of apparatus a result which heretofore has required a plurality of devices, and in this way I am enabled to effect a considerable saving in time, labor and material. To this end, my invention in its preferred form comprises a clamp having a body portion and a pair of prongs integral therewith and extending upwardly therefrom, said prongs being constrtlcted and arranged to be bent over a reinforcing rod placed between the same; but it will be understood that my invention is not limited to a clamp and has utility'where it is desired to space reinforcing rods and hold the same in fixed position while the concrete is being poured.

My invention will be explained by reference to the accompanying drawings in which-- Figure 1 is a side View of my improved clamp. Fig. 2 it a plan view. Fig. 3 is an end view. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of a portion of a concrete floor constructed by means of my improved apparatus, the forms and their support. member being shown in position. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a ortion. of the mold before the concrete has een poured. Figs. 6 and 7 are plan views of modified forms of my improved clamp. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are diagrams which illus trate the action of the prongs in centering the reinforcing rods. Fig. 11 is a side view of the bolt which I prefer to. use with my clamp.

In the particular drawings selected for more fully disclosing my invention, 1 represents a light channel iron having flanges 1, 1, the web of which is apertured at suitable intervals for receiving bolts 2 which pas freely through the same and are threaded into the holes 2 in the center of the clamps 3.

The clamps as shown consist of a body portion which preferably is upwardly bowed so as to raise the rods 4 supported thereby farther from the upper surface of the web of the channel, and still permit the ends of the clamp to engage the floor forms at points closer to said web, than if said clamp were straight, and to form a toggle, whereby the lower edges of said forms are more securely clamped against the flanges of the channel than if the wedging action between the ends of a straight clamp and the inclined sides of the flanges were relied upon.

In the present instance the means integral with the body portion of the clamp for spacing the rods and securing them thereto consist of two pairs of prongs 5, 6, and 5, 6' stamped out of said body portion in the direction of its length and projecting upwardly from the opposite sides thereof, as shown in Fig. 2, said pairs being arranged on either side of the transverse axis of the clamp and constructed and arranged to be bent over a reinforcing rod resting on and extending across said body portion.

7, 7 represent metallic arch plates such as described in said Letters Patent or other suitable floor forms which span the spaces between pairs of adjacent channels, having their lower edges resting on the webs of the channels and held in engagement'with the flanges by the clamps as shown in Fig. 4. After the arch plates have been clamped in position the reinforcing rods 4 are placed in the spaces between the pairs of prongs and the latter are then bent down over the rods to secure the same in position as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, each prong preferably being long enough to extend over the center of a rod.

In assembling the floor mold I prefer to insert the bolts 2 through the webs of the channels and then thread them loosely into the clamps before the channels are placed on the false-work. The channels are then placed upon their supports, the clamps turned in the direction of the channels and the arch plates placed in position, whereupon the clamps are turned transversely of the channels and the bolts tightened by means of a screw driver which takes into the kerf '2 with which the threaded end of the bolt is provided. In this way all the work of assembling can be done by men working overhead.

As will be obvious a single prong on either side of the transverse axis of the clamp may be used, the workman in such case holding the reinforcing I'Odfagainst such prong with his foot while hammering the prong over the rod.

I prefer however to use a pair of prongs, one pair on either side of the transverse axis of the clamp because thereby the rods will automatically be centered. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 show how this is done. A rod dropped into the space between a pair of prongs may roll over against the side of one of them as shown in Fig. 8. The prong 5 is then hammered down and drives the rod against the prong 6 as shown in Fig. 9, but when the prong 6 is forced against the rod, the latter will be moved over toward the left as shown in Fig. 10 and will assume a position substantially in the center of the space between the prongs.

It will also be obvious that the prongs may be stamped out of the center of the body portion as shown at 8, 9, 8', 9, in Fig. 6 and that they need not be formed: on the opposite sides thereof. Fig. 7 shows a fur ther modification in which the prongs 10,

11, 10, 11', are-stamped out of portions of the body of the clamp between the center and the sides.

Various other modifications may be made in the several forms of clamp herein particularly described without departing from the principle of my invention.

It will be obvious that by means of the present invention considerable time and labor may be saved in erecting the forms and that various other elements heretofore considered essential may be eliminated.

Having thus described illustrative embodiments of my invention without, however, limiting the same thereto, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an apparatus for constructing concrete floors, a clamping member comprising an upwardly-bowed body portion.

2. In an apparatus for constructing concrete floors, a channel, floor-forms having their lower-edges against the flanges of said channel, a clamping member arranged to hold said edges of said forms against said flanges, and a bolt passing through the web of said channel and having threaded engagement with said clamping member, the end of said bolt being provided with transverse kerf.

3. In an apparatus for constructing concrete floors, a channel, floor-forms having their lower edges against the flanges of said channel, and a clamping member arranged to hold said edges of said forms against said flanges, said clamping member having means integral therewith for securing reinforcing rods thereto. a 4. An apparatus for constructing concret floors comprising a concrete-form supportmember having upstanding edges, tloor forms having their lower edges against said upstanding edges of said support-member, and a clamping member arranged to hold said edges of said forms against said upstanding edges of said support-member, said clamping member having means integral therewith for securing reinforcing rods thereto.

5. An apparatus for constructing concrete floors comprising a concrete-form supportmember having upstanding edges, floorforms having their lower edges against said upstanding edges of said support-member, and a clamping member arranged to hold said edges of said forms against said upstanding edges of said support-member, said clamping member comprising a body portion and a pair of prongs projecting upwardly therefrom, said rongs being spaced apart to receive a rein orcing rod between them.

6. An apparatus for constructing concrete floors comprising abody portion and two pairs of prongs integral therewith and projecting upwardly therefrom, said pairs of prongs being arranged on either side of the transverse axis of said body portion and 5 the respective members of each pair being arranged on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis thereof, one member of each pair being spaced lengthwise of said body portion from,the other member thereof to re- 'ceive a reinforcing rod resting on and ex-i tending across said body portion, said prongs being constructed and arranged to be bent over and immovably secure a reinforcingrod of any diameter equal to or less than the space between said prongs.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10th day of De- I cember, 1917.

NILS FREDERICK AMBURSEN. 

